Sunrisers Eastern Cape will contest their third SA20 title on Sunday after demolishing Paarl Royals by seven wickets in Qualifier 2 at the Wanderers on Friday night, setting up a finals rematch against Pretoria Capitals in Cape Town.
Left-arm spinners Senuran Muthusamy and James Coles asphyxiated the Royals on a dry Bullring pitch that offered plenty of turn and variable bounce. Muthusamy claimed 3 for 15 in his four overs whilst Coles recorded 1 for 15 including a maiden, restricting Paarl to 114/7 despite an unbeaten half-century from wicketkeeper-opener Kyle Verreynne.
The target proved woefully inadequate despite Paarl striking three times in the powerplay. Sunrisers completed the chase with seven wickets and 50 balls to spare, with Coles contributing a devastating unbeaten 45*(19) after his earlier bowling heroics.
After Paarl captain Dan Lawrence won the toss and elected to bat, Lutho Sipamla struck in the second over to remove Lhuan-dre Pretorius for three. Anrich Nortje then drew a top edge from Rubin Hermann with a short ball that held up in the pitch before Muthusamy and Coles wrecked the middle order.
Muthusamy had both Asa Tribe and Sikandar Raza stumped before sending Rovman Powell, who replaced the injured David Miller, packing for one in the 15th over. Lawrence had earlier spooned Coles to short cover for four in the final powerplay over.
The spinners combined for impressive figures, following the successful template established by Roelof van der Merwe and Liam Dawson in previous seasons. Verreynne battled through the 20 overs for 52*(46), with 27 runs coming against seamers Nortje and Marco Jansen. He showed calculation against spin, playing with the turn and using a straight bat on a difficult track.
Quinton de Kock launched the chase aggressively, crashing Bjorn Fortuin for three fours in the first over before taking Hardus Viljoen for two sixes and a four in the second. He departed for 25 (12), with Fortuin also trapping Johnny Bairstow lbw in the same over.
Coles finished the job spectacularly, taking part-timers Lawrence and Pretorius for 25 off seven balls before sealing victory with a mighty six. The conditions had changed drastically, Paarl’s spinners generated only 1.8 degrees of average turn compared to Sunrisers’ remarkable 5.1 degrees in the first innings.
